


In This Life

by moxx04



Series: life, re-life, and snippets [2]
Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, SoTN but luck is on Nayeon's side, also shit at writing, i'll add warnings as we go, i'm shit at updating, welp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24230773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moxx04/pseuds/moxx04
Summary: Maybe in this life, they'll be happy.
Relationships: Im Nayeon/Myoui Mina
Series: life, re-life, and snippets [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1748941
Comments: 37
Kudos: 68





	In This Life

**Author's Note:**

> hello, i probs should've held off updating this till i finish sotn but think of it as a peace offering instead :D welcome to a hopefully more coherent story (but don't expect to much of me, because i'm me lmao)

It was cold and stuffy, and she was slowly running out of air. Or maybe she wasn’t. Maybe the feeling of the chest closing in was all in her head, but that doesn’t make it any better.

She remembers that one time she got stuck in a cabinet in their own home. She was playing hide and seek with Yeri, her younger sister, but she would learn that kids don’t often have great attention spans. She was stuck there for hours until her mother came rushing into the room, making so much noise and opening every drawer. And then she was finally found.

She didn’t cry that time, didn’t even bother to think about how terrible the ordeal was until she felt like she could finally breathe.

Now it was happening again. But she didn’t get herself stuck in this situation. She was put in a trunk and tasked to be quiet. There are men out there who killed her parents. Part of her wants to jump out of this thing and face those men just to be with her family again.

Then comes the hard part. The part where she sees her father when she closes her eyes, kind but stern in his ways. Always a gentle hand to guide her, and with a deep and soothing voice that tells her to follow her heart in all that she does, but to remember that her heart must always be tempered by her mind. Jumping out of the chest would be foolishness, she knows. It doesn’t make it any easier to stay put.

Her mother put her in the chest in their room, suspiciously empty if she really thinks about it. She looked her mother in the eyes and all she saw was love and the kind of sadness that only appeared when she told her bedtime stories of a faraway kingdom in the West, where everything was white and where the ice seemed to come alive.

_“You are loved, my dear,” her mother says, strong and proud, but achingly soft. “Stay strong, and tell the king that we persevere.”_

Those were her mother’s last words to her, before she goaded the men outside of the room, and made as much noise as she could while pretending to get away. Part of her wishes her mother just tried to get away for real. The scream and laughter that erupts tells her there’s no hope of that. 

It seems her father got Yeri out of the house. That was good, at least. She doesn’t know how long it’s been. Doesn’t recognize any change until she hears the sound of horses being ridden outside, then footsteps in the room she’s in.

She doesn’t call out. She doesn’t think she ever could have. Maybe the men just wanted to play with her, make her think she didn’t fail her mother’s last wish, only to kill her in the last minute.

She wouldn’t mind. But she wouldn’t do that to her mother either.

The lid is opened and suddenly, it’s all too bright. It’s not a man’s sight that greets her, it’s a woman, dressed in Northern leathers, a discreet golden badge on her chest plate indicating rank. Her father taught her that it was reserved for generals. Her father taught her a lot of things.

“What’s your name?” the woman asks her. “I’m General Lee Sunmi.”

She doesn’t particularly want to speak, doesn’t really want to do anything but curl up and cry if she was being honest, but she feels compelled to answer anyway.

“I’m Im Nayeon. Why weren’t you here last night?” she asks back sullenly.

She looks out the hallway, to Yeri’s room and sees something dried up on their carpet, the color of rust. She has to clench her fists tightly to prevent the tears from coming escaping.

“I am so sorry, little girl. We tried to find out where those men were headed and we failed,” General Lee says solemnly.

“Doesn’t bring them back though, does it?” she replies, looking like she’s about to cry.

But she doesn’t. Her mother told her to stay strong. That she’s loved. They made a sacrifice to save her. Maybe Yeri needed her.

The woman looked to be at a loss, but she holds out her hand to Nayeon. She liked the gesture. She wouldn’t have liked it if she just grabbed her. She takes it.

They go out of the room and she can feel the discomfort coming from the woman. The air smells metallic, and she’s loathed to think about how that must be from her family.

She has a choice to make, she knows. She could see their bodies one last time, or she could leave and have their memories undefiled. She grips the general’s hand and walks towards Yeri’s room. Maybe it was just her father’s blood.

But it wasn’t.

Turns out Yeri doesn’t need her anymore.

One could say that showing dead bodies to a little kid is wrong but that was her family. She would rather see them like this one last time than not at all, even if it broke her heart all over again. At least the general could understand that, probably knowing much more loss than her.

She says her goodbyes, whispered words that may or may not reach them. General Lee leads her out of the bloody place and she wonders if she’ll someday live in this house again. 

Maybe when she’s old enough to live on her own. She doesn’t know if that’s something to look forward to. She really just wants to cry.

“Where do you want to go from here?” the general asks.

“Shouldn’t you put me in an orphanage?”

Nayeon’s mother always talked about building an orphanage near their house since it was a bit far from the capital. It would’ve been for all the children with nowhere else to go. Her mother was kind.

“I could. Or would you like to stay with me?” she says with a slight smile.

“Why should I?”

Sunmi pauses at that, then reconsiders.

“I could teach you to protect yourself.”

“I don’t—”

“Or to protect other people,” the general adds hastily, looking pained at what Nayeon was about to say. Adults are strange. They don’t seem to like the truth very much.

“I have no one now,” she says honestly.

“Maybe someday you will. Don’t you want to keep them safe?”

“Maybe,” she replies quietly. “I’ll stay with you,” she says hesitantly, “but you have to promise you’ll stay.”

And maybe that was too much vulnerability, but she was eleven years old, she wanted a hug and a shoulder to cry on. She wanted to be wrapped in the general’s arms, the way her mother used to do for her when she got hurt while playing.

The general crouches down, cups Nayeon’s cheeks gently and smiles at her.

“I’ll stay with you as long as you’ll let me.”

She embraces the woman. She still doesn’t cry, but she feels infinitely better than she did a few moments ago. Her father always told her that he owed their life to a general, who knew she would too?

Sunmi tells her that they would need to report to the king. And what a relief that was. She gets to do what her mother wanted.

They ride for the castle.

-

She was so tired. Her eyes were drooping and the lulling motions of the horse ride weren’t helping. She wants to stay alert but it’s becoming very hard to do when Sunmi feels so warm and steady around her. She would have fallen asleep and off the horse if she was given one to ride by herself.

“How long is the ride from our—my house to the Northern castle?” she asks quietly.

“Your house is about four hours away from the Station of the North at our pace,” the general replies. “But the horses are running on energy crystals, so it’s a lot faster than normal.”

“Oh. My father has—had one for his horse too. Sometimes he’d let me ride with him to the markets.”

“Oh? Your father must have been an important man then,” the general looks contemplative.

“What is the Station of the North?” she asks, changing the subject.

“The capital city,” the general says with a little smile. “For soldiers like me, it’s the greatest station ever built.”

“And why is that?”

“It’s right in the center of a circular mountain range,” Sunmi says, pointing at the surrounding mountains. “And when you climb atop the highest towers of the Northern Castle, there’s nothing more freeing.”

“Don’t the mountains mean we’re always surrounded?” she wonders about the general’s logic. “We’re only as free as we think ourselves to be.”

“You look too young to be a philosopher,” Sunmi jests.

“My parents always used to say that. I don’t think they felt free,” she admits.

“The mountains protect us from everyone else. It has enough power to keep away most armies. But small groups do get past it,” Sunmi rambles. “That’s why we have our own military. We’re supposed to be the best. I’m sorry.”

It’s quiet after that. It wasn’t uncomfortable, just solemn.

It’s then that she sees massive walls that also appear to be circular in form. They approach the gray walls and one of the soldiers in the general’s team breaks away to speed ahead.

The huge gate ahead of them opens and they are received directly into a long path to the castle.

“The walls are like the mountains,” she observes out loud.

“That’s right, kid.”

“If the Station of the North is the city, shouldn’t the Northern castle be in the center too?”

“The ruling family from generations back thought it would be dishonorable to be in the center where enemy soldiers would have to go through the townspeople from every side before reaching them if it ever came to it,” Sunmi starts. “So they put the castle on one end along with the largest accessible gate, and put heavily-manned watchtowers in the walls.”

“What about the ones outside the city?”

“The mountains are used just like the watchtowers. We have trained soldiers all over them, guarding all of the Northern Kingdom.”

She hums, not quite ready to accept that statement when they couldn’t guard her family.

They approach the castle, passing a moat and drawbridge on the way, and the team breaks away. A boy reaches for the reins when Sunmi finally gets down from the horse and helps her down as well. There was now only a short walk to the castle. It was beautiful and intimidating both.

The storybooks her father used to gift her after long trips to the capital have paintings of this very same castle, but they didn’t depict how old and heavy it felt. The castles in those books felt like a fairytale. In person, it was a castle that has withstood the test of time and only grew stronger for it.

There was one main building that looked tall enough to contain six storeys, and a tower on each side that was even taller.

The entrance was tall and intimidating, just like the rest of the place. Sunmi places a hand on shoulder, firm but not restricting. She gently steers her into a room that required going up four stairways.

“The general wishes to enter, your grace,” a young man also in the typical military leathers is guarding the door.

“Send her in,” the king calls back calmly.

Nayeon is too tired to be terrified, but she stays behind the general nonetheless.

The King’s room was elegant but quite simple. Multiple shelves of books were around, and with a dark wooden desk near a large window with a view of the courtyard.

“Sunmi, how was the latest patrol?”

The king looked like any other older man, but he was also in black. His clothes were fabric rather than leather. There was no crown, just slightly graying hair and soft brown eyes. The stories talk of kings like they’re indestructible. It seems that storybooks aren’t all that they’re made up to be.

“I have terrible news, your grace,” the general says, no emotion in her tone. “A merchant’s house was ransacked, most the family killed off.”

“Which house?” the king asks worriedly.

“A house by the western part of the first district, I believe the family that resided there was the Im’s.”

“By the gods, I’ve failed them,” the king says, voice laden with pain.

Sunmi straightens her back more at the king’s reaction. She wonders what that means.

“This failure was mine, your grace,” Sunmi says.

“No,” the king whispers. “No. It is mine. A whole legacy lost at my hands. They only wanted Nayeon to live peacefully.”

“Your grace, their child survived.”

It’s only then that the king notices her presence behind the general. She takes this as her cue to say what her mother wanted her to say.

“I’m Im Nayeon. My mother told me to tell you that we persevere,” she delivers the message, stepping forward in full view.

She wouldn’t say she’s an interesting girl. But at the sight of her, rumpled and in her sleepwear, the king weeps.

“I am so sorry, my dear child,” he says, reaching for her.

She can’t help the reaction, she flinches. Sunmi catches her before she stumbles. It helps her steady herself, stops her from breaking down now that she’s done all that’s asked of her.

“Your grace, I would beg your leave to have her stay with me,” Sunmi asks, politely ignoring the man’s tears.

“She is the true Western Princess, Nayeon Lim. She needs to be taught everything her parents would have eventually taught her,” he says, ignoring the request.

What was this man saying? Her? A princess? How silly. She was a merchant’s daughter, and now she’s an orphan.

“I would like to stay with the general, your grace,” she says, because she can’t possibly make anything worse anyway. “I’m not a princess.”

“Yes, you are. But if you so wish, I shall have rooms prepared for you and General Sunmi. You shall both sleep on the opposite wing of my family’s rooms,” the king bargains.

“Is that what you want?” Sunmi whispers to her softly.

“Is that where you usually stay, general?”

“No, I have a small home near the castle.”

“Then why can’t we stay there?” Nayeon brings up.

The king looks pensive and Sunmi doesn’t answer her.

“We will have a proper funeral for your parents, and we’ll—”

“I had a younger sister too,” she interrupts.

The king looks even more stricken at this but continues.

“We will have a proper funeral for your family, and we will have lessons arranged for you. I have a daughter six months younger than you, perhaps you would get along,” he tries. “You will never want for anything as long as my family rules the North, this I promise you.”

“Thank you, your grace,” she has enough sense to say. “I will do as you wish but I would like to stay with the general. She promised me she would teach me to protect.”

“To protect what, child?” he asks curiously.

“I don’t know yet,” she says honestly. “But I hope to find out.”

“Very well,” he says kindly.

He could almost resemble her father, but this man looked like the world was upon his shoulders. Maybe that’s what grief does to people. Does she look like she’s older too? She doesn’t know, but she doesn’t really care either.

She was really tired.

-

The general carries her the rest of the way to her house. All of Nayeon’s energy was drained after the talk with the king. There were some points of contention when they discussed her training with Sunmi. The king only wanted her trained with the basics, but she didn’t want that. That didn’t seem like enough.

Sunmi offered the best training with the best trainers if she proves to be fit for the military life. If she doesn’t, she’ll stick to the royal lessons that she’ll be having alongside training. Both adults look like they want to object to this because she’s going to have too many things to do, but she thinks it would be best if she’s busy all the time. She’ll excel in both, she promised them.

Being carried was weakness, she knew, but it was also very deeply comforting. She could be strong for the rest of her days. She’ll have this for now.

The building they approach is a simple one, big enough for a family, but much smaller than her house. Sunmi lets her down from her back and opens the door with a key.

The sunlight adds a peaceful look to the place. It’s simple with a kitchen, a washroom, two rooms and an open space in one of the corners.

“I know it’s not much, kid,” Sunmi says, a bit self-deprecatingly.

“It’s really nice,” she comments.

The whole place was really clean. Then again, Sunmi was a military general. She was bound to like order and cleanliness.

“Want to see your room?”

“Yes, please.”

It was spartan, but in a nice way. There was a desk, a bed, some cabinets and a nightstand with a lamp.

“It was a room for—well it was for the future,” she says, looking bemused at the situation they’re in.

“Thank you,” she says sincerely.

It was very different from her old house. She just wants to sleep.

Sunmi probably notices and leaves her alone in the room with a gentle squeeze to her shoulder. She gets on the bed and sleeps.

-

The funeral for her family is short and somber, with only her and Sunmi able to attend.

She helped the general dig up the ground where her family would rest. She was responsible for Yeri’s smaller space. Every moment of it hurt, and she’s not talking about the burning tiredness in her arms.

The soldiers came and buried them.

Someday, she would make them proud of her.

-

She wakes up in the middle of the night, out of breath and afraid of something she can’t even picture. It has been a few weeks of this, and she’s gotten better at keeping quiet. It’s not that the general would mind if she screamed herself hoarse, but that’s too much weakness to tolerate in herself.

The king wanted her to start with her lessons with his daughter immediately but she doesn’t think she’s ready. Her parents taught her how to read and write but that’s all. She’d only slow down the Northern Princess, so she’d rather catch up on reading by herself or with Sunmi if she wasn’t busy doing whatever generals did.

The weekends were the best because she was too exhausted to have nightmares. She would run many laps around the training ground and then start on the basic exercises. Sunmi said something about getting her fit before she starts on the military arts.

Her muscles would ache in ways she didn’t know was possible. It was refreshing. Less time thinking and more time doing.

The quiet of the night lulls her back to sleep. Tomorrow would be another day to survive. She’d try her hardest.

-

She finally caught up to the lessons being taught by the various tutors the king hired. It took a year, but it was finally time for lessons in the castle. It’s still early in the day but she’s already done her laps in the training ground and washed the sweat off of herself.

She’s standing in front of the mirror in her room when Sunmi knocks on her door.

“May I come in?”

“Yeah,” she calls back absentmindedly.

She probably looks fine.

“Ready to go, kid?”

“Do I look fine?” she asks.

Her wardrobe now only consists of pants, tunics, shirts, and a few leather vests, all in varying shades of black, white, and gray. Today’s ensemble are black pants, a white shirt, and a black leather vest. She’s seen Sunmi in this attire when she’s not in full uniform. It looked very nice on the general.

“You do. Are you sure you don’t want me to get you a few dresses?”

They remind her too much of the past, when everything was still tinted in innocence and naivety.

“They’re not practical to move in. I’d trip on the hems.”

The general laughs at that and fully enters the room, closing the door.

“That’s very true. Why do you look so worried then?”

It’s a bit embarrassing now that she’s being asked.

“Can I tie up my hair like you do?” she asks shyly.

The general looks surprised. She looks down at her new leather boots. Maybe she’s being too much like a kid. She’s a trainee now, she can’t be like that.

Gentle hands start tugging at her hair. She looks at the mirror and sees the general smiling softly and tying her hair like she asked with a black leather band. She can’t help but feel warm.

“There, all done,” Sunmi pats her head and steers her gently outside so she can finally go to her lessons.

The walk to the castle isn’t very far. Her legs have been improving for the past month and she’s no longer tired after her assigned morning laps. She doesn’t know what to expect in the castle. She never got to meet many people back then, their home too far from their neighbors to actually have anyone to play with.

The castle actually reminds her of the past. It’s way bigger, and the guards stationed everywhere kept saluting because she’s with Sunmi, but it has that same feeling to it that screams it’s too big and too fancy. It’s strange because the place is brimming with people scurrying about.

They go up two flights of stairs and Sunmi deposits her in a room filled with bookcases, chairs, and a table. It had a view that overlooked the training yard so it must be on the same side as the king’s study. She doesn’t have to wait long before the door opens again.

Instead of a stern and commanding adult greeting her, it’s a girl dressed in a soft pink dress looking confused. She’s been around too many military men and women, trainees and officers alike. It kind of makes her heart ache to look at this girl with her soft features and moles dotting her face.

She’s ashamed to admit that she just stood there speechless for a while even though she was fully informed that she would be having lessons with the princess. She eventually gathers her wits and bowed properly to the princess.

“Are you a prince?” the princess asks, head tilted like a puppy.

“No, princess,” she answers. “I’m a military trainee and a girl.”

“Oh. You look very dashing,” she grins. “I’m Mina. What’s your name?”

“Nayeon,” she says, then corrects, “Im Nayeon, your grace.”

“Oh! Father said that you’re a princess like me!” the princess tells her excitedly. “I’m glad I can finally have someone to play with.”

“I’m not a princess, your grace, but I am willing to play with you when we don’t have work to do,” she offers.

Someone else finally enters the room. The princess turns to look at the man and curiosity sparks in her eyes. He’s tall, muscular, and his hands are rough with calluses. He doesn’t look like a scholar. He looked more like the people she trained with daily.

“Who are you, sir?” Mina asks.

“I’m a new tutor your father hired,” he smiles.

Something about him sets Nayeon’s guard up. She’s heard that voice before.

“I just didn’t know you’d be having company, dear girl,” he says while stepping forward.

Nayeon puts herself in front of Mina.

She’s heard that voice before.

He was there the night her family died.

“Excuse me, sir, but I don’t think you’re supposed to be here,” she says, looking him in the eyes.

He laughs softly. Then he takes a good look at her and smirks.

“You look very familiar,” he starts, looking very smug. “Your eyes, your skin, it’s not quite Northern is it?”

“What’s going on?” Mina asks softly from behind her.

“Princess, I need you to stay behind me,” she says, gritting her teeth in anger.

This man already took everything from her and now he’s threatening someone as defenseless as Mina. She can’t let that happen. She’s not stupid enough to think she can take him on, she doesn’t even have a weapon, but she’ll be damned if she doesn’t try to save the princess.

“A brave little Western knight, huh,” he chuckles. “If you leave this room right now, you could live to tell the tale of meeting Vox twice.”

Mina whimpers. She looks at the princess and sees her shaking a little, unprepared for such a threat. The sight makes Nayeon ache. She’s too young to be put in this situation. Most people probably never even have to go through this, and yet she, an 11 year-old girl, is supposed to handle this. 

“No,” she replies.

She’s not from the West even if her blood sings a different story. The truth is that she doesn’t really have to do anything right now, he wasn’t a threat to her, he was a threat to Mina. She could probably walk away and let things happen. But months ago, Sunmi told her she’d teach her how to protect, and Mina, well Mina is trying her best to stay strong when she shouldn’t have to.

“I’m going to protect her,” she says steadily.

“Are you, little girl?” he says menacingly. He takes out a dagger from his boot. She looks at the hand holding the dagger and sees a tattoo of a crescent moon. She holds Mina’s hand from behind her.

He smiles cruelly at her and drags the tip of the dagger across her right cheek. It stings, but it’s nothing she can’t handle. She’s fallen down too many times during training and gotten various cuts and wounds.

“Not even a flinch?” he asks, amused.

She doesn’t respond, just glares at him. He laughs and directs the dagger toward Mina. That’s not good at all. It’s stupid and Sunmi has already told her the importance of not handling sharp objects by the blade, but she has to. Mina’s hand grips the back of her vest tightly.

“Don’t!” Mina cries.

She catches the blade with her hand and the man looks surprised.

“You’re an interesting kid, aren’t you?” he asks.

“Not really.”

He looks pensive for a few seconds and withdraws the blade. Her cheek and palm are now bleeding and she has the absurd thought about avoiding getting blood on her clothes.

“I’m going to go now. I think this is enough of a message anyway,” he smirks. “I have a feeling we’ll meet again someday, little one.”

He bows to the two of them and quaintly exits the room. Mina’s sobs grow louder.

“You’re bleeding!” the princess points out.

She does the only thing that made her feel better when she felt bad. She hugged her carefully, trying not to rub the blood all over the princess’ dress.

“I’m okay,” Nayeon assures the younger one.

“You protected me,” Mina sniffs. “You’re my knight.”

She blushes. She’s not even sure if knights were still in the military system of the North. And besides, she didn’t even succeed. The man only let her off. She swears never to let herself get caught off guard like that again.

“Not yet, princess. I have a long way to go.”

“I’m so sorry,” Mina starts crying softly again. “You wouldn’t have gotten hurt if it wasn’t for me.”

“That’s not your fault,” she replies, patting Mina’s head with her clean hand. “They’ve hurt me before too.”

“How?”

“They—they killed my family,” she swallows the lump in her throat. “I couldn’t save them.”

It’s nice to finally share that with someone.

“I’m glad they saved you,” Mina says quietly, hugging her tighter.

She cries at that. It’s been a while since she’s let herself feel again.

The king sees a remnant of his old friends in Nayeon. Sunmi sees someone she failed before. Mina…maybe Mina will see Nayeon if she lets her.

She’s also very tired, probably all that energy rushing out of her. The tears sting her cheek.

“Ouch,” she mutters.

“We should get you to the infirmary!” Mina perks up suddenly.

Mina grabs her uninjured arm and drags her outside. There’s a guard posted there, knocked out. She contemplates dragging him with them but he’s probably too heavy anyway. They’ll just send someone to help him later.

They arrive at the end of the wing and Mina doesn’t bother knocking. The room is well lit, the windows opened wide. The woman behind the desk looks up and is momentarily stricken.

“Please help Nayeon,” Mina says, that royal tone bleeding into it.

The healer with brown hair and sharp cheekbones rushes to her and pulls a vial and a piece of cloth from her robe. She wonders absently how that’s possible. She always does this, and Sunmi always laughs.

“What’s that?” she asks curiously.

The liquid looked like how ponds looked on a good day, blue as the sky.

“It will close up your wound and leave no scar,” Taeyeon tells her.

“Oh. Can you leave the one on my cheek?” she asks.

Taeyeon looks confused.

“Why?”

“I want it to remind me of what happened today.”

“You want to remember him?” Mina asks her, looking worried for her.

“No,” she clarifies. It’s kind of embarrassing now that she has to say it out loud. “I want to remember that I tried to protect you today.”

“Oh,” Mina says, struck.

“What exactly happened to you two?” the woman asks again.

“Someone from Vox was after Princess Mina and posed as our tutor. He left after I caught his dagger when he was trying to get to Mina,” she says succinctly.

“I’m going to have to rush away so I’m gonna leave you two to my apprentice,” the woman says, already walking away. “Stay safe, don’t let anyone but me or Sunmi enter. Sana, you know what to do.”

“Sana?” Nayeon mutters.

“Hi!” a girl their age chirps from thin air.

“Hello. I’ve never seen you before,” Mina muses.

“I’m not meant to be seen, your grace,” the pink-haired girl smiles brightly. “I’m Minatozaki Sana, Master Taeyeon’s apprentice. You can call me Sana.”

“I’m Im Nayeon, General Lee Sunmi’s charge. Please, just call me Nayeon.”

Sana does the same thing Master Taeyeon did, except she pulls out another vial with an emerald green liquid. She puts a bit of the blue liquid into the cloth and reaches for Nayeon’s palm. She wonders if her blood will mix with the blue and become purple. It doesn’t. Still, the wound does close like nothing happened.

“This green one is going to close it up but it’ll leave a pale mark like this one,” Sana says, lifting up her shirt to show her abdomen that had a thin line, about an inch long.

She has enough tact not to ask.

Sana dabs another part of the cloth with the green liquid and rubs it on her cheek. She feels the skin there close too. Sana pulls out another vial and practically soaks the cloth with it.

“What’s that one for?” she asks.

“It’s water, silly,” Sana laughs. “You’ve got blood all over your face.”

“Oh,” Nayeon blushes. “I can just wash up with a basin of water, it will be faster.”

“No,” Mina cuts in. “Let me clean it up for you.”

She’s ready to protest but Sana hands over the cloth to the princess and just shrugs at Nayeon.

It feels nice. Mina looked adorable focusing on her task and while she’s still sure that it would be faster if she did it herself, it’s probably good for the princess to be able to help her.

There’re sounds of what appears to be a whole squad of soldiers marching outside. That’s good. Quite slow, considering the man could have come back for them, but they probably had to sweep the whole castle before coming.

Sunmi is the first to come.

“Did he hurt you?” Sunmi, asks.

“Yes, but it’s done.”

“Why is it always you?” she hears Sunmi mutter from her place, squished to the general’s chest.

“I don’t know. But I will be ready,” she turns her head just enough to smile at Mina and Sana who were looking surprised at Sunmi’s outburst. “You should go do what generals do now.”

“Okay,” Sunmi lets go of her after a few more moments.

Today was supposed to be a beginning, and in a way, it was. Much more chaotic and unexpected, but she knows what she has to do now. It’s a good start.

**Author's Note:**

> how was it??? yeet? hehe yell at me at @_moxx04a if you want :D but also comments are appreciated


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